{"id":493,"date":"2023-01-27T17:31:52","date_gmt":"2023-01-27T21:31:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mirrer.com\/MirrerView\/?p=493"},"modified":"2023-01-27T17:42:27","modified_gmt":"2023-01-27T21:42:27","slug":"getting-the-news-out-in-olden-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mirrer.com\/MirrerView\/2023\/01\/27\/getting-the-news-out-in-olden-times\/","title":{"rendered":"Getting the news out, in Olden Times"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\"coverage
Front page of The Sun-Tattler in Hollywood, Florida.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

When Space Shuttle Challenger lifted off at 11:38 a.m. EST on Jan. 28, 1986, the TV networks didn\u2019t even carry it live. Space launches had become routine, no longer big news.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That changed, 73 seconds later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was in the newsroom of The Sun-Tattler, a tiny but feisty daily newspaper serving Hollywood, Florida and its surrounding towns. I was a features writer, but I was quickly grabbed to help with coverage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCall the local airport,\u201d the city editor told me. \u201cFind out if any pilots were in the air this morning and if they saw anything.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnd you have 10 minutes,\u201d he added. No pressure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I actually did find a pilot. He told me he had seen many smoke trails from previous shuttle launches. But the one this day from Challenger, just didn\u2019t look right to him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think my quote ended up in one of the stories in the four-page edition The Sun-Tattler published and wrapped around the regular edition of the already published newspaper.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I can\u2019t remember the exact time our special edition was out on the streets, being hawked by vendors in competition with the giant Miami Herald and (Fort Lauderdale) Sun-Sentinel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But it was quick. Damn quick. The content was reported, written, edited. The four pages were designed, typeset and sent to the printing presses. I want to say it was within 2 hours of the explosion; can\u2019t swear to that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I saved only the front page (and only found this within the last year). I think, inside, there was a big (file) photo of the crew and a story about all of them \u2013 the kind of thing the news service had pre-written in advance. Can’t remember what else was in there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was really proud of the paper and my colleagues that day. Everyone jumped in and did their very best. Note the local angle in the bottom-right, about reax in the area schools.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And notice the infamous photo of the curling smoke got published sideways. AP might have sent it that way and it was in print before any correction was made.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Here’s a color version of the pic, turned the correct way, as published by National Geographic online many years later)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When Space Shuttle Challenger lifted off at 11:38 a.m. EST on Jan. 28, 1986, the TV networks didn\u2019t even carry it live. Space launches had become routine, no longer big news. That changed, 73 seconds later. I was in the newsroom of The Sun-Tattler, a tiny but feisty daily newspaper serving Hollywood, Florida and its…<\/p>\n Read More<\/span> Getting the news out, in Olden Times<\/span><\/a>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"Layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[43,45],"tags":[],"class_list":["entry","author-admin","post-493","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-history","category-newspaper"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mirrer.com\/MirrerView\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/493","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mirrer.com\/MirrerView\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mirrer.com\/MirrerView\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mirrer.com\/MirrerView\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mirrer.com\/MirrerView\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=493"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.mirrer.com\/MirrerView\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/493\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":505,"href":"https:\/\/www.mirrer.com\/MirrerView\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/493\/revisions\/505"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mirrer.com\/MirrerView\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=493"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mirrer.com\/MirrerView\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=493"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mirrer.com\/MirrerView\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=493"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}